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英语翻译At my bank the other day,I was standing in a line snakin

来源:学生作业帮 编辑:搜搜做题作业网作业帮 分类:英语作业 时间:2024/07/08 03:50:17
英语翻译
At my bank the other day,I was standing in a line snaking around some tired velvet ropes when a man in a sweat-suit started inching toward me in his eagerness to deposit his Social Security check.As he did so,I minutely advanced toward the woman reading the Wall Street Journal in front of me,who,in mild annoyance,began to sidle up to the man scribbling a check in front of her,who absentmindedly shuffled toward the white-haired lady ahead of him,until we were all hugger-mugger against each other,the original lazy line having collapsed in on itself like a Slinky.
I estimate that my personal space extends eighteen inches in front of my face,one foot to each side,and about ten inches in back — though it is nearly impossible to measure exactly how far behind you someone is standing.The phrase "personal space" has a quaint,seventies ring to it ("You're invading my space,man"),but it is one of those gratifying expressions that are intuitively understood by all human beings.Like the twelve-mile limit around our national shores,personal space is our individual border beyond which no stranger can penetrate without making us uneasy.
Lately,I've found that my personal space is being invaded more than ever before.In elevators,people are wedging themselves in just before the doors close; on the street,pedestrians are zigzagging through the human traffic,jostling others,refusing to give way; on the subway,riders are no longer taking pains to carve out little zones of space between themselves and fellow-passengers; in lines at airports,people are pressing forward like fidgety taxis at red lights.
At first,I attributed this tendency to the "population explosion" and the relentless Malthusian logic that if twice as many people inhabit the planet now as did twenty years ago,each of us has half as much space.Recently,I've wondered if it's the season:T-shirt weather can make proximity more alluring (or much,much less).Or perhaps the proliferation of coffee bars in Manhattan — the number seems to double every three months — is infusing so much caffeine into the already jangling locals that people can no longer keep to themselves.
英语翻译At my bank the other day,I was standing in a line snakin
空间入侵者
前几天在银行,我站在一支蜿蜒绕着松垂的天鹅绒绳子的队伍里,这时一个身穿运动服的男子开始慢慢向我挪近,急着存他的社会保障支票.因为他这样做,我不得不稍稍靠近我前面正在看华尔街日报的女士.她有些恼怒地侧身贴近她前面的正在支票上签字的男子.男子心不在焉地拖着脚步走近他前面的白发女士.最后我们都杂乱地贴向彼此,原来松散的队伍像Slinky玩具一样紧缩在一起.
我估计我的个人空间向前要延伸十八英寸,两边各一英尺,向后十英寸(尽管几乎不可能准确测量你身后的人距你有多远).“个人空间”这个词听起来有点古怪,象是七十年代的语气(“你侵占了我的空间,先生”),但它是一种让所有人凭直觉就能明白的、令人愉快的说法.就像我们国家拥有12海里海岸线一样,个人空间就是我们的边界,只要有陌生人穿过这个边界,就会使我们感到不安.
最近,我发现我的个人空间比以前任何时候都更多地受到侵犯.电梯里,人们就在门关上之前挤入;大街上,行人蜿蜒穿过人流,推撞他人,拒绝让道;地铁里,乘客不再费力保持自己和他人之间的一点距离;机场的等候队伍里,人们就像红灯下坐立不安的的士司机拥挤向前.
起初,我把这种趋势归因为“人口爆炸”以及冷酷的马尔萨斯逻辑,也就是如果两倍于二十年前的人生活在地球上,我们每人拥有的空间只有原来的一半.近来,我想是否是因为季节:穿T恤的天气也许会让人们彼此吸引想更亲近一些(或者更加厌恶其他人靠近,尽可能想保持距离).或者可能是曼哈顿不断涌现的咖啡厅——它们的数量似乎每三个月就会翻一番——给本来就喧闹焦躁的当地人注入了太多的咖啡因,所以他们更不要独自待着了.
个人空间主要是一个公众场合的问题; 私下里我们允许各种入侵个人空间的行为.(没有它们就不会存在充满人情味的社会.)个人空间的具体概念随地域变化.住在加尔各答的人们比住在科罗拉多的人拥有的个人空间少.“不要踩我” 这样的话只会出自某个拥有大片土地的人.我打赌北半球人的私人空间的概念比南半球人的要宽敞得多.对英国人来说,握手都显得有些冒犯;然而对巴西人而言,连个拥抱都不给就会被看作是冷淡.
就像那些撞了你泊好的空车而不留条的司机,人们撞到你时不再低声咕哝一句“对不起”.人们普遍为社会礼仪的退化悲叹.在我看来,礼貌就是给别人以空间,不冒犯他人,允许别人有隐私.
我也注意到那些被我称之为空间入侵者的队伍在扩大,这些地盘扩张者把占据公共空间视为理所当然.如今,在电影院里人们占据两个扶手,侵吞两个手肘所覆盖的空间.在咖啡店里,在长岛的火车上,人们习惯性地独占隔间或面对面的四人座位.
归根结底,个人空间是心理层面的问题,而非身体距离的问题:比起我们的外部空间,它与我们的内心空间联系更紧密.我揣测个人空间的缩小和自我的膨胀是成正比的:注意力是向内的人不会去操心关注外面的事情.这些年就连科学研究也是着眼于微观,而非宏观.人类基因组工程正在绘制基因代码的全貌图,而神经科学家正在使用提速的磁共振成像仪来描绘我们大脑神经细胞的活动.
就像蝴蝶振翅在日本带来的习习微风,最终可能会导致加利福利亚的一场海啸,我决定要扩大正在缩小的个人空间.现在在银行排队等侯时,我拒绝靠近我前面的人三英尺以内的距离,即使这意味着在我后面的家伙要贴着我的脖子呼气.